Automotive

Are peeps still buying GM vehicles?

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  • Jul 10th, 2014 3:29 pm
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Deal Addict
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Jul 10, 2007
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tinted151glass wrote: Lean manufacturing mainly derived from Toyota Production System for quality control that GM is eagar to learn from it.
Toyota even shared TPS with GM in their joint venture @ NUMMI but even that wasn't enough for GM to screw it all up. Combination of bad management, unionization, and a general "that'll do" attitude/culture.
#KeepFightingMichael
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Apr 11, 2006
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Vaughan
Quentin5 wrote: lets keep in mind some defects only present in certain situations, for example if the seatbelt pretensioners were prone to breakage in an accident above 3Gs you would never know until you had that accident
I don't dispute this one bit. I think GM acted very poorly in its handling of these issues. No defense for them. And absolutely unfortunate that lives have been lost as a result of their negligence.

I will objectively say however, that just because other manufacturers haven't had such similar circumstances happen doesn't mean they are free from that similar kind of behaviour. As you say, some defects only present themselves in certain situations. It just so happens that the certain situations that presented GMs defects have happened - but maybe they have yet to happen for other manufacturers that possibly have cut some corners or made cost cutting decisions in exchange for safety in some of their past models and/or current models.

If there was a GM vehicle that I liked, and I was looking for a new car, I would still consider it.
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Feb 8, 2014
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kenchau wrote: If there was a GM vehicle that I liked, and I was looking for a new car, I would still consider it.
Please elaborate on this, i would like to understand why its not a deal breaker
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Jul 21, 2005
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Alberta
Quentin5 wrote: Please elaborate on this, i would like to understand why its not a deal breaker

Because people have lives that don't revolve around hating on GM like they just killed baby Jesus. You really have a vendetta against GM, very unreasonable one for someone who doesn't own a GM or really has any connection to it.
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Jan 13, 2009
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Oakville
Quentin5 wrote: So you can excuse murder for money by saying everyone else must be the same?
Im not excusing anybody or anything. I'm just saying that I have a practical "insider"-type knowledge which tells me that quality of NA-produced cars if pretty comparable (and BTW quality of GM cars is actually relatively high, comparing to many others).
Every car manufacturer facing issues from time to time. If you havent seen (or read) "Fight Club" yet, then you may want to check on it, that may give you some ideas. ;)
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Apr 11, 2006
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Quentin5 wrote: Please elaborate on this, i would like to understand why its not a deal breaker
It's not a deal breaker because I don't think other manufacturers are any better. And don't confuse that with "what they did is excuseable just because I think everyone else is the same". I didn't say that at all. I am specifically saying I think they're all just as bad, and would handle these kind of issues just as poorly, and the circumstance just may not have presented itself yet for other manufacturers.

There are so many individual parts that come together for a moving car. I don't for a second think that any manufacturer has absolutely all the pieces perfect such that nothing could ever possibly go wrong that would jeopardize a passenger's safety.

The big thing with this GM debacle revolves around the ignition being too easily turned back from the on position and shutting the car down prior to a collision and thereby not deploying the airbags - that's dangerous. But with so many cars now with push button ignition, I have no idea (and I certainly hope to never find out) during a severe collision if there is a possibility of some kind of electrical malfuntion that would shut the car down, and would similarly not allow the airbags to deploy either.

So at the end of the day, it boils down to, if I like a car, I'll consider it, if I don't like a car, I won't consider it - I don't care what others think of the vehicle. Unlike many RFD'ers who come to the forum asking others what car they should get, when the answer is always quite simply, "get the car you like and that you can afford".
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Feb 29, 2008
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Montreal
Quentin5 wrote: So you can excuse murder for money by saying everyone else must be the same?

Talk about denial and justification, i would hope people would find GMs behaviour appalling and would no more defend it then they would condone a competitor if they did the same thing.
How many cars for the Nazis did VW build? How many Luftwaffe engines did BMW and MB build? How many forced labor camp prisoners did Mitsu and Nissan use?

If we are going to tally the blood on corporate hands, GMs 13 deaths is miniscule compared to the slaughter German and Japanese companies were complicit to during the war.
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Oct 17, 2012
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KESWICK
mr_raider wrote: GMs 13 deaths is miniscule compared to the slaughter German and Japanese companies were complicit to during the war.
That's extreme comparison: business ethics vs war behaviour
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Feb 8, 2014
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Lots of interesting replies, keep them coming :)
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Aug 26, 2009
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Earth
cheapmeister wrote: GM has so many recalls these days, it's like they have recalled every vehicle they have made in the last 20 years. So are peeps still buying their vehicles? Anyone have friends, family who bought a new GM or are still GM fanboys?
+2
Also GM resisted recalls
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/autom ... .html?_r=2
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2014/07/gen ... ze-trucks/

G.M. has resisted recalling the pickups and sport utility vehicles, telling regulators that rusted brake lines are a routine maintenance issue

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